Alabama played as hard as it could, but their best efforts weren’t enough in the 6-3 loss to the Florida Gators. With the win, Florida became the 2014 Women’s College World Series champion.
“Congrats to [Florida coach] Tim [Walton] and the Florida Gators,” Alabama coach Patrick Murphy said. “Everybody told me if you keep coming back, keep coming back, eventually you’re going to win one, and the same goes for them.”
The Gators used a combination of its three pitchers to win its first title in its sixth appearance. Right-hander Lauren Haeger pitched three innings, giving up two runs off five hits. Left-hander Delanie Gourley earned the win after pitching two shutout innings where she walked one and struck out two.
Right-handed ace and WCWS Most Outstanding Player Hannah Rogers came in for the final two innings, allowing two hits and one run.
“There’s three pitchers on our team. He has three. Let’s all use them. It’s a staff. It’s not one pitcher,” Murphy said. “We had seen Haeger. We had seen Gourley. We were ready for all three, and he decided to throw the one he did, and we saw all three today, so I think more coaches need to use everybody, so kudos to Tim.”
The loss for Alabama was the third in 44 games this season when scoring first. The Crimson Tide had seven hits on the night to the Gators’ 12. Florida had four errors and did not allow an unearned run. Conversely, Alabama’s lone error gave Florida its final run in the 6-3 loss.
The Crimson Tide started off the game with a leadoff single by sophomore center fielder Haylie McCleney. Following a single and a fly out, she advanced to third. Junior Jayn Spencer singled her in for an early 1-0 lead.
Florida answered in the bottom of the first with a solo home run. In the bottom of the second, the Gators put up four runs on senior Jaclyn Traina before freshman Sydney Littlejohn came in for relief with Alabama trailing 5-1.
“I think the biggest thing in the two games was they continued innings, and they got key hits,” Murphy said.
Hunt cut into Florida’s lead with a solo home run over the left field wall in the top of the third. She finished her time at Alabama tied for second in career home runs with 58. Before game two, she hadn’t hit a home run since April 18.
In the top of the seventh with one out, McCleney tripled. After Case flew out to left field, Hunt singled in McCleney for Alabama’s final run in the 6-3 loss.
“We all want to end our career with a win, but the biggest thing that I’m going to take from this is the relationships and the friendships that I’ve built over the past four years with these people,” Hunt said.
Traina (26-5) recorded her second consecutive loss after 1 1/3 innings pitched. She allowed six hits and five runs. She walked one in her last outing as an Alabama pitcher. Despite the loss, she said that all she could ask for was to have great memories with her teammates.
“It was a good moment just being able to be around these people,” Traina said. “They’re great people, and the best thing that I’m going to take from this is the memories and the relationships that I built with my family.”
Littlejohn pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief. She allowed six hits and one unearned run. The run came in the bottom of the sixth after Florida’s Stephanie Tofft reached on a fielding error.
“I’m really proud of her for what she’s done here,” Traina said. “I mean, she’s going to do a lot of great things at Alabama.”
Both Traina and Hunt were named to the All-Tournament team. Traina pitched 28 2/3 innings at the WCWS and was 3-2 with a 2.44 ERA. Hunt went 5-for-12 in Oklahoma City, including a home run.
With the loss, Alabama finished its season 53-13.
(See also “Softball team run-rules SIU-Edwardsville on first day of NCAA play“)
